Your social media followers don’t mean shit.

Yup

There, I said it. My wife will probably kill me for saying it because she has (at the time of me writing this) over 80,000 followers on her Instagram page. So honey, if you’re reading this, hear me out…

Typically, the number most associated with success when it comes to any social media platform is the number of followers. And why not, it’s great social proof. But while amassing tons of followers, likes and comments on any social media platform looks great, likes for the sake of likes are worthless and do nothing to really prove how well any efforts performed when converting likers into customers.

I’m going to assume that you’re a business owner since you’re reading this. At the end of the day, converting is what all businesses and brands what to do on social media. Amiright?

So you ask yourself: I have 3,000 Facebook followers but no one ever clicks through to my website. I’ve got 1,000 followers on Instagram but no one ever engages with my promotions.

Why is that?

Let’s first talk about the elephant in the room: You’re giving a shit about the wrong numbers. You’re putting too much emphasis on bullshit metrics.

Ok, so what metrics should I care about then?

ATTENTION.

We’ve all heard the old phrase “Content is king”, content, content, content has been drilled into our skulls since blogging has even been a thing. But if “Content is king” then “Attention is god”, especially when we’re talking about social.

Attention is interaction. It’s getting the people to click your links, join the conversations, and share your content. It’s making your audience feel like you’re providing value to them and you’re not just there to sell them on something. It’s making them aware that you’re real, you have personality. It’s first and foremost being authentic.

Ask yourself this before you post anything: Will my followers take away something of value from my content? Will my followers miss this if I do not post it?

Let’s start there because both of those questions are really important.

People are on these platforms for two reasons: entertainment / escapism OR information, meaning they want to learn something. Does your content speak to either of these? Because I can promise you thats what your followers care about.

So it’s safe to say that no one gives a fuck about your YouTube pre-roll.

Sure, the analytics might say that a quarter of a million people saw your boosted post on Facebook, but the truth is no one really paid your content any attention at all.

Not only is impression count a very misleading metric, in a lot of cases it can even represent a negative consumer experience. (If you’ve ever been blasted so many times by a remarketing ad that you wish you’d never gone to a brand’s website in the first place, then you know what i’m talking about.)

Attention is greater than impressions.

Quit agonizing over the sheer number of people that see your content! What brands should concentrate on is the total value every bit of content they deliver can bring their audience. Keeping in mind, in order to achieve the end goal of getting the right response from your followers, everything must first revolve around caring about their consideration. For you to get the outcomes you want, your audience truly needs to consume your content.

Make shit that people actually want to read, watch or share.

Likes are not a business metric.

You can amass a following. But are they listening?

It’s as straightforward as that.

Thanks for reading this,
David

PS: My wife is great at this and I learn so much from watching her engage with her audience and create business opportunities for herself.